Second Life Wiki Receives Takedown Notice

Second Life Wiki Receives Takedown Notice

October 1, 2009

The creator of Second Life in Education, a wiki designed to document the educational uses of the online world, has received notice from developer Linden Labs that the site infringes on their trademark.

The website has been in operation since 2006. While Jokay Wollongong wrote on her blog that the notice came as “a kick in the guts,” the site’s founder said that she would not fight the request and would move the resources of her wiki to another domain. She also wrote:

I also worry that this is a sign of things to come for many other residents who are creating fantastic content.

Massively notes that one of the infringements in question centered on Linden Lab’s SL trademark, which they only registered within the past two weeks.

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Re: Second Life Wiki Receives Takedown Notice

Massively had a good post on it pointing out that this is probably the result of a lawyer who was tasked with 'protecting the trademark' trying to rack up kills to prove their worth.

It would not surprise me if LL management came back with an apology... I would be surpised if they even knew this was happening ahead of time.

Re: Second Life Wiki Receives Takedown Notice

All the more reason why TM/CP needs to be scaled back....


Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy! Stop supporting big media and furthering the criminalization of consumers!! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

Re: Second Life Wiki Receives Takedown Notice

I don't understand this? Is just as if Linden Labs (Second Life) does not want a website documented how much can be learned from playing computergames online. Hopefully, this is a just a lawyer who tries to earn his keep...

Re: Second Life Wiki Receives Takedown Notice

The thing is, if she had the site for this long and Linden Labs knew about it and said nothing until now, I would think she would have a leg to stand on, so long as she is not charging or making money off of it.

This just seems strange.

~Weatherlight~

Re: Second Life Wiki Receives Takedown Notice

Actually, if it's because of the two-weeks-registered trademark, it makes perfect sense.

The thing is, under US law, a trademark must be actively defended in order for the registree to continue to claim it. This is actually at the root of a number of stories involving Disney suing people for painting Mickey Mouse on the walls of a daycare they run (or the like) -- if a competitor can prove that Disney (or Linden Labs, in this case) knew about unauthorized usage of the trademark but did not act, they have legitimate grounds for the courts to rule the trademark abandoned, at which point they can start using said trademark with their own products without having to pay a dime.

The Massively article did argue (and I would be inclined to agree, though of course it's not like I've ever taken, let alone passed, any bar exam) that the usage of the trademark in this context would likely fall under fair use, so I'm thinking Neeneko was right about it being an overzealous lawyer more worried about "Second Life" becoming a legally generic term for virtual worlds than about not pissing off the community.

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FlakAttack: News from Canada: Conservatives launch protest against proposed "digital media recorder" levy
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ZippyDSMlee: Devrys online corses are about 5-7 grand a year I think.
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:40pm
Valdearg: @Zip: Not exclusively Online, I don't think. And it's like 17,000 a year, to attend. Not worth it, IMO.
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:25pm
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:do they have online corses?
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Valdearg: Fun. For what it's worth, at ITT, it was 8 Week Quarters.
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ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:looky here, http://forums.theeca.com/showthread.php?t=8590
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ZippyDSMlee: Valdearg:So force our nobles in charge to re join normal sosicty is unrealistic?
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Valdearg: Instead of thinking about these fanciful notions of how things should work in your world, you should be thinking how can we realistically fix the problems with our current system. Small steps mean progress, big leaps are usually defeated.
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:07pm
Valdearg: @Zip: Thinking realistically is the first step to bettering yourself. :P
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:06pm
ZippyDSMlee: They should be treated as part of society not nobility and I have been labeled an incompetent so I can haz my monies, not like its enough to live on....going to be fun when I start devry in a few years.....
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:04pm
ZippyDSMlee: House/senate/P/VP do not need to be paid , they also should be blocked from working with any industry thats attached to government(even lowest contract bids) after office.
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:02pm
ZippyDSMlee: Also survive<live
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ZippyDSMlee: They do not need to be paid, the fame,influence,back scratching, free security and reduced housing is all they need to live and work.They live far to far away from society to be charged with its governance....
Posted 03/17/10 at 03:59pm
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:If I had the millions they did on average I would not need my check to survive.
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Valdearg: So, you want congress to work for free while you don't work and get paid.. Sounds totally logical.
Posted 03/17/10 at 03:56pm
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag: Goverment needs an overhaul not absolute destruction tho I dubt it would be changed any other way >>.
Posted 03/17/10 at 03:55pm
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:Only if congress stops taking their checks :P
Posted 03/17/10 at 03:41pm
Valdearg: @Zip: Tell you what. How about you be the first to forsake government. You want to neuter it, how about you stop cashing those SSD Checks you receive every month. I mean, if Government is bad, then clearly, that money is corrupt.
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ZippyDSMlee: Can we neuter government first before we fix health care?
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